Chapter 55

October 1, 1979.

On this day of national celebration, Peking University held a solemn and stirring flag-raising ceremony at the May Fourth Sports Field.

Except for students, all members of the school guard team, unless on duty, attended.

Raise the national flag, play the national anthem.

However, many people just opened their mouths; there were quite a few who were just making up the numbers. It was really that many people were not familiar with the new national anthem.

The national anthem was still "March of the Volunteers," but the lyrics had just been changed last year. The old lyrics of the past were considered not suitable for the current development situation.

And for a long time before '78, because of the lyricist, the national anthem only had music and no lyrics.

However, in another two years, the lyrics would be changed back. Wei Ming also learned to sing the original national anthem for the first time when he was in his twenties.

His mouth moved in a fake manner, while his head was still thinking about those newspapers.

Yesterday he flipped through the newspaper kiosks. There were five newspapers criticizing "Ducks Know First," and only two praising it.

He was indeed famous—famous for being black-red.

Some people made a fuss about the male protagonist being calculating, thinking it was capitalist thinking entering the brain.

Some directly criticized advertising for fooling the public and causing unnecessary consumption.

And quite a few people criticized the sentence "Brave people enjoy the world first."

A commentator in "Workers' Daily" said: "I heard that a sentence has become popular among young people recently, called 'Brave people enjoy the world first.' The intention of this sentence is too sinister. May I ask, if everyone goes to enjoy, who will build the four modernizations of the motherland? Who will realize the great rejuvenation of the nation? I think this is clearly hedonism and is resolutely unacceptable!"

Wei Ming wanted to laugh angrily thinking about it now. Putting labels on others was also your traditional skill. It's already 1979; do you still think it's 1969!

Wei Ming wasn't afraid, it was just inevitable that it would affect his mood.

It wasn't until Qiao Feng called Wei Ming and took him to the Security Department, where the leader awarded him a commendation for righteousness, that he felt better.

The commendation was mainly a certificate of merit, and there was also a watch coupon.

Another actual benefit was that he became a regular. His salary would rise to 28 yuan per month in the future, but the salary for the previous month would have to wait a few days to be issued.

Holding the watch coupon and thinking of his huge sum of over 400 yuan, Wei Ming had an impulse to consume. He had originally thought about buying a watch under a hundred, but now he had started to have thoughts about a high-end Shanghai-brand watch.

However, he was on the day shift for these two days because he also wanted to stroll around the trust store. Going into the city and back was too tight on time, so he'd better wait for two days when he was on the night shift.

While patrolling, Wei Ming saw the men and women of the May Fourth Literary Society riding bicycles and tricycles, carrying many "Weiminghu" magazines. Among them was Liang Zuo, who didn't even call him Uncle when he saw him.

Wei Ming laughed and asked: "Are you guys going to set up a stall to sell this at school?"

Cha Jianying laughed: "Not only sell at school, but they are also going out to sell, go to Tsinghua to sell, go to the streets to sell."

Wei Ming said: "You guys aren't considered a regular periodical, right? Is it legal to sell this?"

Liang Zuo was already a bit worried, so he hurriedly said: "It's not legal."

So he really hoped Wei Ming could persuade the sisters, or just forget it. Isn't it fine to just sell at school?

As a result, Wei Ming said: "That's fine. If you get caught by the police, don't resist. Go back with them obediently. When calling people, remember to be affectionate—call the young ones Uncle, call the older ones Grandpa, and then call our Security Department. We'll go over and fish you out."

Liang Zuo: "..."

The young ladies happily expressed that they definitely would; Wei Ming's words were just pleasing.

Because it was National Day, the students and Biaozi and Little Mei, who weren't on the day shift, all went to the streets. The school was empty, and Wei Ming and the senior had nothing to do while patrolling.

Just as he wanted to sit down and rest, something happened.

Professor Feng ran over tremblingly: "Meier, Meier is gone!"

It wasn't spring yet, but his Meier was already restless. Growing up, she was destined to be abducted by a yellow-haired guy.

Wei Ming let the senior send Old Feng back, and he went to find the cat himself. He had a full affinity for cats and dogs, unlike those bear children who were hated by cats and dogs.

After finding Meier in Jingchun Garden, Wei Ming personally sent the cat back to Old Master Feng. Zong Pu, the daughter of Old Feng, happened to be there. I guess many people had studied her prose "Purple Wisteria Waterfall."

This big sister was over fifty, and her daughter was less than ten.

She recognized Wei Ming and even comforted him: "You must be Wei Ming. You don't have to care about those criticisms in the newspaper; the novel is written quite well."

It seemed the commotion caused by "Ducks Know First" wasn't small, and even she knew about it. Wei Ming only saw those newspapers yesterday, so he was a bit late to the party.

He expressed his gratitude to Teacher Zong Pu and said goodbye to Old Feng and Meier again.

Old Feng looked at his daughter suspiciously: "You know this young man?"

Zong Pu picked up the school newspaper that came out today on the table and pointed to the poem "Ideal" on the front page: "You were just praising his poem for being written well."

"What, this was written by him!?" The old man was shocked.

After finishing a day's work in the afternoon, Wei Ming started organizing his luggage.

"Children's Literature," "Weiminghu," two issues of the school newspaper, three issues of "Wenhui Bao," commendation for righteousness, a bottle of Cangu Yangrong medicinal wine—these were enough for Old Wei. But what to buy for Mom? It's just a pity he didn't have storage space, otherwise he really wanted to bring her a sewing machine.

After thinking for a while with no clue, Wei Ming simply took out paper and pen, wrote the words "The Book of Heaven (adapted from 'Ping Yao Zhuan')," and started his lonely and interesting creation again.

He ate dinner alone at the long-lost staff cafeteria. Today the students were busy celebrating, and no one treated him.

Returning to the dormitory, Biaozi and Little Mei, who came back from outside, said there was a bonfire party at Tsinghua tonight.

"Are you going!" Biaozi seduced him. Little Mei still had to work the night shift, and only Wei Ming could accompany him.

Wei Ming had just finished writing the character settings for "Egg-born" and "Yuan Gong" and was about to write about the three foxes.

But thinking that he had been here for a month and hadn't been to Tsinghua yet, and also wanting to catch the festive spirit of National Day, he nodded.

"Fine then."

Biaozi was still very good at socializing and had already become familiar with the Tsinghua guard. He even greeted him when entering.

Out of professional habit, Wei Ming first considered the safety and fire issues of the bonfire party.

!

Hmm, held in the open space in front of the auditorium, and very close to the water system. Fine, fine.

There were many people at the bonfire party, young men and women dancing, and some holding guitars to sing.

Were Tsinghua students this good at attracting the opposite sex through music in this era?

However, the number of girls was really a bit small. It wouldn't be as good as taking a guitar to Peking University to hold a bonfire party, as long as you could take a beating.

And they basically sang red songs; there wasn't even any of Teresa Teng's decadent music. This wouldn't work, right?

After watching for a while, neither of them participated in dancing.

Biaozi couldn't dance, and Wei Ming's mindset hadn't completely adjusted yet, feeling that this wasn't very steady.

So they left the bonfire party, and Biaozi took Wei Ming to stroll around Tsinghua Garden.

Walking and walking, they came near Jinchun Garden and saw a chubby little boy blocking a thin milk cat in a corner, even throwing stones at it.

Wei Ming immediately stepped forward and shouted: "Hey, what are you doing!"

The little fatty was very arrogant: "None of your business!"

Wei Ming patiently reasoned with him: "If you are stronger than it, you can bully it at will. Then if we are stronger than you, can we bully you?"

"Do you dare to bully me?" The little fatty put his hands on his hips. "Do you know who I am? My grandfather is the principal of Tsinghua!"

Whoa!

Biaozi was so scared he took a step back.

Wei Ming looked at the other party's face, which wasn't very round yet, and had a feeling of deja vu.

He stepped forward and asked: "May I ask the young master's surname?"

Seeing he was afraid, the little fatty became even more proud: "My surname is Gao."

Biaozi viciously said "grass," it turned out to be a Young Master Gao.

Hearing him say "grass," the unconvinced little fatty also replied "ce na"—he had grown up in Shanghai before he was seven.

"What did he say?" Biaozi asked.

Wei Ming happened to understand a bit: "Swearing."

Seeing Biaozi's face turn red from holding his breath, Wei Ming whispered and seduced him: "Why don't we beat him up."

Biaozi had some concerns: "That's not very good, right? His grandfather is the principal."

"I guess he's bragging, and it's dark and windy, and no one saw it."

One sentence stirred up the evil in Biaozi's heart. I can't beat Swallow, but I can't beat you, a fatty?

So the two leaned forward. Wei Ming surrounded him, and Biaozi grabbed him. The little fatty was about ten years old and was no match for Biaozi at all. He was held on Biaozi's knees and patted on the butt twice.

Actually, he didn't use much force; he was just scaring him. As a result, he cried uncontrollably.

Biaozi hurriedly let go and prepared to retreat.

"Adults bullying children, what kind of hero is that? If you have the ability, leave your names!" The little fatty covered his butt, tearful, not forgetting to clamor.

Wei Ming had a flash of inspiration and pointed at Biaozi: "His name is Ai Dajin, remember that!"

After saying this, the two took off running!

(For the sake of the little fatty getting beaten, beg for monthly tickets!)

(End of chapter)